Miss USA: Proud of her Mexican Roots

Nia Sánchez isn’t just Miss USA, but also one of the favorites in the Miss Universe contest, and she spoke very fondly about her Mexican roots.

”I am so proud to represent Mexican-Americans, especially those women in this country where dreams come true”, expressed Sánchez.

My father comes from Mexican ancestry and those are my roots, said Sánchez, who also pointed out that she enjoys Mexican food.

Sánchez was born 25 years ago in Sacramento, California, but she represented Nevada and became the first woman from that state to win in the Miss USA contest.

Nia Sánchez Miss USA 2015 (Photo: spyhollywood.com)

Her paternal grandfather, Wilbur Sánchez, is Mexican, and his wife is German. Her parents divorced when she was six.

Nia is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and also practiced ballet and jazz dance for five years.

For a time, after graduating from high school, she worked as a nanny in Europe and visited 12 countries, among them Mexico, where she lived for three months before becoming Miss Nevada. She also played a princess in Disney Hong Kong.

Sánchez is just the fourth US beauty queen with Latino roots, after Laura Martínez Harring (1985), Lynnette Cole (2000) and Susie Castillo (2003).